Rasheeda Hawk

Removing pollutants and toxins from Los Angeles communities through science and education.

Rasheeda's motivation to be a research scientist started when she used to watch her grandfather make medicine and different herbal concoctions to treat people. She was more amazed that a large portion of the ingredients for his medicine were grown in his garden.  Because of this, she was able to see the connection between our health and our environment at an early age. She would say that her grandfather, a former sharecropper, factory worker, and with a fifth-grade education, was her first teacher in health. His knowledge and wisdom of the land and our relationship to it was immeasurable. His compassion nurtured her curiosity and passion to pursue a career in biomedical science. As a biophysicist, she works at the intersection of science, education, and health. Though most scientists look at the causes of disease, her research practices include preventative and restorative measures towards health. She has a specific interest in how environmental factors affect the expression of our DNA, a process known as epigenetics.